Vasily Zasipkin

Artist, interior decorator

Vasily Zasipkin was born in Ufa on December 25, 1886, and died in Singapore on March 14, 1941.

Zasipkin graduated from the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. In 1917 he was drafted into the army and sent to Vladivostok where designed sets for the military theatre and the cabaret Bi Ba Bo. From there he moved to Harbin, where in 1920 the Japanese government commissioned him to paint a series of landscapes of Kamchatka and Manchuria. Zasipkin's studio was on Kitaiskaya Street. 

In 1929, he came to Shanghai and opened V. A. Zasipkin's Art Studio; in 1934, it moved to the Joffre Arcade, where many Russian businesses and stores were located. Zasipkin was a commercial portrait artist: he created over 25 portraits of Shanghai's foreign elite, consuls and municipal administrators. His oils and pastels were frequently exhibited in Shanghai and later Singapore. Some critics claimed, however, that his works were "old stereotyped canvasses," showing "meticulous study and sound technique," but "lacking virility and imagination" and infused with "commercial, almost illustrative atmosphere." Yet among the Russians he was considered one of the best in Shanghai, alongside M. A. Kitchiguin and V. S. Podgoursky. Vladimir Tretchikoff, later of the pop-art fame, and A. J. Yaron's son Alexander were Zasipkin's students.

By Zasipkin's own statement, he was commissioned to design the interior decoration for the Grand Theatre and Park Hotel in Shanghai as well as "quite a number of interiors for private homes and public buildings." He said he was "engaged by L. E. Hudec, well-known Shanghai architect, to make up architectural drawings of the various buildings designed by Mr. Hudec." He also worked on advertising campaigns and designed stage sets for the productions of the Russian Light Opera, such as Lysistrata and the Dream of Wei Lien, in the Lyceum Theatre.

On the brink of the Japanese attack in August 1937, Zasipkin transferred his studio from the French Concession to Wayside, where it was destroyed in the air raids, together with the bulk of the artist's work. In October, Zasipkin relocated to Singapore where he promptly opened the Apollo School of Art, at the Amber Mansions on Orchard Road, and started offering classes in painting, modeling, drawing and sculpture for beginners and advanced students. 

Zasipkin's arrival, evidently, filled the gap felt at the time by the Singapore's foreign community. In November 1937, he helped revive the long-obsolete Art Club, which started to meet again, on Wednesdays, for life drawing sessions and lectures from visiting artists. The weekly "Zasipkin's Russian Parties" were also popular: there pelmeni (meat dumplings), borscht and vodka were "served up in disconcerting quantities."

The artist's most important project in Singapore was the interior design of the Cathay Cinema, Café and Roof Garden, which opened in December 1939 after two years of construction. The architect of the eleven-floor apartment building and entertainment complex was the British Frank W. Brewer, from Singapore. Shanghai's W. W. Wagstaff was brought to supervise the moulding of the frescoed walls and ceilings. 

Zasipkin's interior design solution for the complex – "a modern adaptation of the classical style, with soft, quiet elegance" – was praised for its simplicity and artistry. In the Cathay Café, "A carved freeze in flower and leaf design ornaments the walls just below the ceiling, and the same motif is introduced into the three-tiered pillar tops, from which indirect lights cast a soft glow up to the ceiling." The color scheme consisted of various shades of beige and black. 

The orchestra shell had "only three or four shades of variation to enhance the lighting effects, which will be sunlight, blue and red." The shell was carried out in two shades of pink, "which are most effective," and lighted from behind. The pink palette and diffuse lighting were meant to be "flattering to the complexion and soothing to the eyes," while the white and black mirrored pillars around the dance floor made the dancing exciting. 

Around 1938, Zasipkin, reportedly, received a commission for a cinema complex in Malacca.

Two years after his departure from Shanghai, Zasipkin declared he was "delighted at his life" in Singapore and only "missed the Russian winters." He died at the age of 55 from a heart failure, which struck him as he was teaching his class. He was buried at the Bidadari Cemetery. Zasipkin's Art Studio was taken over by his colleague Vadim Shilonosoff, also from Shanghai; the meetings of the Art Club continued too.